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Versailles Inspired Mansion On Long Island Lists For $60 Million

This article is more than 6 years old.

A home designed to evoke Versailles on the North Shore of Long Island is officially hitting the market for $60 million.

The mansion is owned by Raphael Yakoby, the creator of Hpnotiq, an ocean blue liqueur popular with rappers in the early aughts. According to local property records, Yakoby bought the 8.4 acre lot in 2010 for $3.25 million. He then spent the last eight years meticulously fashioning his dream home, which he is calling Maison des Jardins or house of gardens. When Forbes visited in February, work was still underway on the attic and basement floors. Landscaping of those jardins had barely begun.

According to Eloise Halpern, the Douglas Elliman agent who helped find the land and who now has the listing, Yakoby fell in love with French culture as a young entrepreneur selling his wares door to door in Paris. The 23,000 square foot limestone chateau includes eight-bedrooms, 15-bathrooms, a movie theater, a wine cellar,  two Kevlar-lined safe rooms and several grand rooms for entertaining. Yakoby spend tens-of-million building the place--including $2.5 million on chandeliers alone. The asking price includes furnishings.

A listing for the home briefly appeared last summer with an asking price close to $100 million, creating significant local buzz. But the homes quickly disappeared from sites like Trulia and Zillow. In the interim, Yakoby and his young family have moved in and Halpern has been quietly marketing the property, most recently at $75 million, before lowering the asking price to $60 million last month.

That traffic has been slow is not too surprising. While most of the 95 homes listed for sale in the same zip code as the chateau are seeking at least $1 million, only two of those listed on Zillow are asking for more than $10 million. According to Douglas Elliman's own market report, prepared by appraisal firm Miller Samuel, homes in this region of Long Island had an average sale price of $986,384 in the fourth quarter of 2017. Luxury homes across the island, excluding the pricey Hamptons, averaged $1.26 million. Meanwhile, a Wall Street Journal analysis in July found that Versailles-style homes sit on the market far longer than most. The documentary "The Queen of Versailles," details the struggle to sell a 90,000 square-foot replica in Florida.

Nevertheless, Yakoby is not the only Long Island seller looking to unload a royally-inspired manse for an eye-popping price. An nearby estate designed after the Peterhof Grand Palace in St. Petersburg was listed for $100 million in 2015. The price was eventually lowered to $85 million before being taken off the market in late 2017. Property records to not indicate a sale.


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